Fluid seal



June 13, 1939- E. o. MOSHER 6 FLUID SEAL' Filfid Aug. 5, 1936 INVENTOR. EZRA D. MOSHE)? WMMMM A TTORNEY a Patented 13. 1939 PATENT OFFICE FLUID SEAL an n; Masher, om, calla, m to us- -Jional Oil Seal 00., Oakland, Calif., a corpora- Application am 5, 1936, Serial No. 94,378

1 Claim.

My invention relates to sealing devices.

The growing realization of the importance of proper lubrication of bearing surfaces in frictional contact has led to an increasing use of some .5 form of sealing means adapted to seal lubricant into the bearing and also prevent its loss from the housing through leakage along the shaft or the housing wall. There are two general types of installations today in machine construction which require some form of an annular sealing means between the shaft and the opening in the housing from which it projects. One is where the annular sealing member engages the housing wall in a non-rotative fit, and has-a wiping memher in sliding contact with the shaft. The other is where the annular sealing member has a nonrotating fit on the shaft and a wiping lip in sliding contact with the wall of the housing.

The most common form of annular sealing means in use today is that typified by the Johnson Patent No. 2,031,956, and in which the sealing means comprises a metal cage and a flexible sealing member housed within this cage. The metal cage is usually press-fitted into the housu ing bore, or on the shaft, to form a non-rotative fit therewith. It is necessary in installing these sealing devices having a metal cage, that they be put into the housing under considerable pressure so as toaccomplish a secure and leak-tight fit between the cage and the part against 'which it bears. In factories, where the devices are installed as original equipment, the practice is to employ a hydraulic press: but in shops, where such sealing means must be replaced in service, the practice generally is to employ a special tool which must fit thecage accurately. This tool is given a series of heavy blows with a hammer to force the seal into operative position in the housing. Similarly, when it is necessary, in service, to remove a sealing member, considerable difllculty is experienced in extracting the metal cage from ,the housing bore, and invariably this extraction process results in the completedestruction of the cage and'sealing unit, and not infre- 45 quently causes a scoring of the wall or housing,

which leads to leakage around such score marks.

One object of my invention .is to provide an annular sealing device which gets away from the above-described installation dimculties, and which can be put in place or removed by the application of very light pressure.

-'Another object of my invention is to provide a one-piece seal for insertion in an annular open- 5 lng, said seal having spring means to prevent body rotation and another spring means to contract the wiping member.

Another object of my invention is to provide a one-piece annular sealing member having its 0pposite walls of different widths to provide a non- 6 rotative fit with one concentric wall of the opening, and a sliding fit with the other wall.

Another object of my invention is to provide a sealing member capable of insertion in a very narrow shaft-to-housing space and in which the 10 springs are not in radial alignment.

Another object of my invention is to provide a molded one-piece sealing member having a pair of oppositely acting springs.

With this and other objects in view, the various l5 features of the invention consist in the novel features of construction, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed, the advantages of which will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the following de- 20 scription.

In the accompanying drawing, illustrating the preferred form of the invention and several modifications, similar reference numerals have been employed for like parts in the several figures:

Fig. 1 represents a cross section view through one form of seal of my invention, showing it in a housing and bearing on a shaft, a portion of the seal being shown in perspective:

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the arrangc- 30 ment of parts where the seal is secured to the shaft instead of to the housing bore;

Fig. 3 is a cross section of a modification of my invention;

Fig. 4 is a cross section view of another modification; and V Fig. 5 is a cross section view of still another modification.

The form of construction shown in Fig. l is typical of my invention when adapted for installa- 40 tions where the space between the shaft and the housing wall is not too narrow. In this case, the seal, generally designated by the numeral i0, is secured inside a housing II, with a non-rotating fit. This fit is usually what is known as a radial pressure fit, that is, the seal III is maintained in a non-rotative position in the housing by means of the outward pressure bearing against the inside of the housing. How this pressure is obtained in the present seal will be explained as this description proceeds.

l2 designates the usual shaft projecting from inside the housing II. The function of the seal I0 is to confine whatever lubricant or fluid content may be in the housing, and to prevent the 66 shaft I2.

fluid from escaping, either along the shaft l2, or between (the outer periphery of the seal base H and the inside wall I3 of the housing.

The form of my invention shown in Fig. 1 is comprised of a body portion l0, usually made of a soft, pliable, rubber-like, resilient, lubricantresisting material, the base portion l4 adapted for a non-'rotative fluid tight fit with the housing wall 13, the axial portion I5 having the lip l8 adapted to make a light pressure fit on shaft l2, and the gland or flexing portion l6 which connects lip I5 to base If. Gland l6 permits the axial lip portion Hi to have a considerable sidewlse movement such as exists where the shaft l2 does not run true in the housing II.

One feature of my invention is to have the base H made of a resilient and pliable material. Its diameter, at its periphery, with spring I1 removed, preferably closely approximates that of the bore I3. Being fairly pliable, the seal Ill may be inserted in the housing bore without a great deal of force being applied to it. If it is of larger diameter than the bore l3, it will readily contract to the size of the bore and can be slid along the bore to the proper operating position without the use of excessive force or special presses.

Asa safeguard against the loosening of the fit between base l4 and housing wall I3, I provide the spring I! which may be of the helical form as shown, or of any other suitable form. This spring is of a tension just strong enough to maintain a gentle outward pressure on the base 14 so as to keep it in a non-rotative, fluid-tight fit with wall l3. This spring I! should not be too heavy, otherwise it will cause cold flow" of the material forming base [4 and gradually embed itself therein to the extent that it will cease to function for its intended purpose.

In order to insure a light pressure fluid-tight sliding fit of lip IS on shaft I2, I provide another spring l8, which may be of the garter spring or helical type, as shown, or of any other desired type. It is important, however, that spring l8 shall be of lesser tension than spring IT, or that the combined frictional effect produced by spring 18 and lip l 9 on shaft l2, shall not equal the combined frictional effect of spring I! and base l4 on wall l3. An important feature of my invention is that the two springs, one contractive, and the other expansive, together with the lip and base portions, respectively, shall have between them this difference in frictional effect so as to provide at the base portion a non-rotative fluidtight fit. It is also preferable that the axial extent of base 14 in contact with housing l3 should exceed the axial extent of lip portion IS in contact with the moving shaft l2.

In Fig. 2 I have shown the form which my invention takes where it is desired toseal against the bore 43 of the housing instead of against the In this type of installation, the base M of the sealing member is on the inner periphery and is maintained in fluid-tight non-rotative association with the shaft, by means of spring l1, and the lip I9 is maintained in fluid-tight rotative contact with wall |3 by means of the light expansive spring l8. In this type of installation the same features of construction hold true as already described, namely, that the spring [1 cooperating with the base I! should combine with it to exert on the shaft l2 a greater frictional effect than thatproduced by the expansive spring l8 and lip IS on the housing wall l3. Also, with the type of device shown in Fig. 2, where the base It is not of a rigid hard material and is not housed within a metal casing, it is possible, and in fact the usual practice, to slide it onto the shaft with a very light force. This makes not only for easy installation. but when it is With my improved seal I have the relative I strengths of springs l1 and I8 correlated to the base H and lip IS on which they press, respectively, so that base I! is kept from rotating and lip l9 bears on shaft l2 no harder than required to stop fluid flow along the shaft.

In Figs. 3, 4 and 5 I have shown three modifications of my invention, and these have to do principally with providing a form of reenforcement in base H to prevent any undue flowing of the material, and in gland It to strengthen it against the twisting effect imparted where shaft I2 is of the rotating type.

In Fig. 3, during the molding, or formation of the sealing member l0, wires 20 and 2|, which may be of spring material or not, are molded into the base l4. When the wires 20 and 2| are of a spring wire material, the ends preferably are left in a lapped position, so that they too combine with spring IT in urging the periphery of base I against the housing wall I3. The other parts of this seal are identical with the ones shown in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 4, the base portion l4 has molded in it at the time of manufacture, a metal strip or ring 22 which has its ends overlapped and unconnected, so that it will not interfere with the action of spring I! in spreading the base l4 into a tight non-rotative fit with the housing wall l3. Also, in certain installations, where this device is sealing against a considerable pressure, and needs strengthening on the gland or neck portion I6, I mold into thisportion a fiat washer 23 which may be of fibrous material, or of thin metal, depending upon the designer's choice. This washer 23 may extend a slight distance into the base portion l4 and preferably will run down toward the lip portion to about where the latter begins to bend to form axial lip l5.

In the form shown in Fig. 5, I have embedded in the base portion Hi the fabric strip 24 which gives to the base portion If a stronger body to resist the outward expansive effort of spring I! and prevents base [4 from spreading out unduly, from what is known as "cold flow". Instead of the fabric strip 24 being embedded in the base, it may be placed in the outside wall of the mold, and therefore in the final product, will be bonded to the composition and will form the outer periphery or surface of base 14. Also, this strengthening fabric radial insert 24 may extend into the gland portion l6 as shown in the drawing.

My invention lends itself particularly well to use in that form of installation where the distance between shaft l2 and housing wall I3 is at a minimum.

While I have illustrated my improved seal independent of any outer casing or cage such as is used today and usually made of cold rolled steel or brass, it is obvious that my seal is capable of being inserted in such a housing when desired and then the cage can be press-fitted into the housing in the well-known manner. Even when \my seal is used in this manner inside of a metal pansive force of base ll assures a leak-tight nonrotative joint with the inner wall of the cage. These are both features which are dimcult to obtain with many of the present day seals, except where the sealing member is bonded to the metal case.

It is also intended in certain installations that the base portion i4 may be made of a material slightly harder than gland i6 and lip I; or, the hardened portion may extend from the base substantially through the gland IS with axial portion I5 and lip I! made of more resilient material and free to flex as the shaft I! may wobble or be deflected. In either of the above cases, however, the base I4 is not made so hard as to be unaflected by spring il in expanding it into a tight flt with housing II.

The above description is intended to set forth the general principles of my invention, and sevto these iorms except as required by the appended claim, realizing full well the many modifications which can be made and still retain the essence of my invention.

What I. claim is: g

A one-piece fluid seal adapted to be interposed directly between a cylindrical housing and a shaft for establishing a fluid tight seal therebetween consisting solely of a deformable self-sustaining flexible rubber-like molded sealing member, and a pair of springs, said sealing member comprising a pair of spaced annular flanges extending in the same axial direction and a flexible web interconnecting said flanges, each of said springs engaging one of said flanges, one of said springs pressing its associated flange into direct sealing contact with said housing, and the other of said springs pressing its associated flange into sealing contact with said shaft.

EZRA D. MOSHER: 

